


Irrational Fears are Calling

by MxrBoneless



Series: All for Freedom and for Pleasure [1]
Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Baldur exists in this AU but he’s still a baby and is only spoken of, Gen, Loki is scared of thunder, Pre-Canon, Thor is a good brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29903883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MxrBoneless/pseuds/MxrBoneless
Summary: Loki is a prince of Asgard and so he does not run through the halls of the family wing. He walks with purpose.Straightening his tunic, Loki runs through his speech. No he is not scared, he simply wanted to ensure that Thor isn’t scared. After all, he moved out of the nursery barely a fortnight ago after spending three centuries sharing a room with Loki. Surely he must be frightened in such unfamiliar accommodations.A clap of thunder shakes the palace on its foundations and before Loki can think better of it, he slams his fists against the door to Thor’s new halls.
Relationships: Loki & Thor (Marvel)
Series: All for Freedom and for Pleasure [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2198823
Kudos: 18





	Irrational Fears are Calling

Loki is a prince of Asgard and so he does not run through the halls of the family wing. He walks with purpose.

Straightening his tunic, Loki runs through his speech. No he is not scared, he simply wanted to ensure that _Thor_ isn’t scared. After all, he moved out of the nursery barely a fortnight ago after spending three centuries sharing a room with Loki. Surely he must be frightened in such unfamiliar accommodations.

A clap of thunder shakes the palace on its foundations and before Loki can think better of it, he slams his fists against the door to Thor’s new halls.

His big brother opens the door, disheveled as always. He doesn’t even have on a proper set of pajamas, only loose trousers meant for field training. One would hope that Thor could at least brush through his unruly blond hair but instead it is tangled and plastered to his forehead as he yawns. “Loki, what brings you to my halls? You know if Mother finds you out after being tucked in—“

“I’m not scared.” Loki twists his hands behind his back. He knows the punishment he risks leaving the nursery but he’s four hundred and thirty-seven and _not_ a baby. Loki’s certainly old enough to walk to his brother’s halls. Especially when it’s completely necessary to make sure that Thor is safe. “But you are unused to your halls. I wanted to make sure you are well.”

“Of course.” There’s something patronizing to Thor’s smile, as there always is, but Loki is willing to overlook it for now. “I was preparing for bed. Would you join me?”

“If you insist.” Loki agrees magnanimously and wiggles past Thor into the large room that will someday be used to host guests. For now it merely hosts a divan that suffocates under the weight of Thor’s training weapons and armor.

Without hesitation, Loki makes for Thor’s sleeping chamber only to be swept up onto his brother’s hip. He’s rather too old to go around being held, but this is in private and like this he can’t feel the thunder when it tries to collapse his home. So rather than stab Thor with his spare dagger, Loki wraps his arms around his big brother’s shoulders. “I don’t understand why your rooms need be so far from the nursery.”

“A few passageways is hardly a trek for one as light-footed as Loki the trickster.” Thor teases, stumbling once he reaches the bed. Instead of putting Loki down, as would be sensible, he shuffles across the bed holding Loki tight to his middle. Once they reach the center of the bed, Thor collapses onto his back so that Loki rests on his chest. “Surely you have not lost your penchant for mischief in the few days I’ve been gone.”

“I most assuredly have not. But Baldur’s wailing is hardly the sort of company that makes for good battle strategy.” With a wave of his hand, Loki releases the ties so that the bed’s canopy falls loose. The heavy velvet can only help to muffle the sound of the sky’s warfare against Asgard. “Nurse took him to Mother.”

“Hmm. I see. No wonder you worried for my safety.” Thor pulls them both under the covers. “Worry not, the thunder cannot reach us here.”

“I’m not scared of noise.” Loki snaps, but he rests his head against Thor’s chest to listen to his heartbeat. “Sif said that the lightning storms are the result of frost giants battling like bilgesnipe.”

“Sif wished only revenge against you for stealing her best knife.” Thor’s voice rumbles nicely in his chest against Loki’s ear. “There are no frost giants on Asgard. Were there, I would smite them where they stood for daring to frighten the favored son of Asgard.”

“You’re the favored son.” Loki grumbles as he pulls the heavy furs and comforters up over his head. “No one likes Lokithe shapeshifter. Sif says I rely too much on seidr for a prince.”

“Sif ought to learn when to cease her prattle. She need not use her own seidr, but she’s no right to keep you from yours.” Thor bundles Loki closer to his chest and nearly squishes Loki too tight to breathe as he scooches to the end of the bed. He fusses with the furs wrapped around Loki before he carries the younger over to the windowsill like he would Baldur.

It’s _embarrassing_.

It’s also over before Loki can wiggle a hand free from the furs to stab with so he lets the insult pass. He can exact revenge later when Thor isn’t the only thing keeping him from toppling out of a two story window.

“See? There are no frost giants.” Thor keeps Loki balanced against his shoulder so that they may both examine the grounds. “It is only father calling down the rains to nourish Mother’s gardens and our people’s fields.”

“I don’t see why he has to call upon them so loudly and without warning.”

“I don’t suppose the Odin sleep allows him much warning. When he wakes I suppose we may ask if the rains might be quieter.” Thor says as he fusses with the furs once more. He has always worried over Loki taking chill to the point of suffocation. Loki does not like to think of the sickly babe he once was, but it seems to be all Thor ever contemplates at times. “Worry not, young Loki. Someday I will be the god of thunder to make sure you are never without warning.”

“We don’t get to choose what we are the gods of.” Loki rolls his eyes and pokes Thor with the point of a dulled knife. Mostly just to remind Thor that he can.

Thor only laughs and rests his chin atop Loki’s head. The very beginnings of scruff scratch at his forehead. “Well, I’m choosing now. Just watch. I’ll be the god of thunder and I’ll scare off anyone who means you harm.”

“Well, Mother did say you were born with strong storm magic.” Loki shuffles a bit so that he might lean back against his very solid brother. “Though why you would desire to be the god of loud is beyond even my knowing.”

“Ah yes, Loki Allfather. The next time I decide on my godly dominion I’ll certainly make sure to run it past your scathing review.”

Loki wiggles free and stands to his feet with only a little wobble. Thor steadies him by the hips and so Loki scrambles to sit upon Thor’s shoulders. “I am your royal advisor, King Thor. You ought to run everything by me.”

“I thought Baldur my advisor.”

“Baldur does naught but scream. Unless the jotuns can be defeated by wailing, you ought not deny the goodwill of a strategist such as myself.”

“Very well. You may be my advisor and Baldur will be the sacrificial lamb upon the alter of arranged marriage.” Thor gathers up the furs with his free hand while he settles Loki on his shoulder with the other calloused hand.

“We’ll have to find him a shrew as loud as he is.” Loki says second before he is tossed from his perch to the center of the bed. He scrambles out of the way as Thor flops down after him.

There is no escape. Thor pulls him back down into a tight hold that only serves to further calm Loki’s heart rate. He chuckles as he settles them both down for sleep. “Mother promises Baldur will quiet with age. I hope she speaks the truth. You certainly did not.”

“I had to share a room with you, you big oaf.” Loki ‘accidentally’ elbows his brother in the gut as he settles. “If I did not voice my displeasure no one would hear me over you.”

“I will always hear you.” Thor promises quite solemnly.

Loki isn’t quite sure what the warmth the floods his body outward is, but he believes it to be affection. With a sarcastic snort, he nestles close in the crook of his big brother’s arms as he did when they shared the nursery. “Only if Eir can save your hearing. I did warn you against taking so many blows to the head.”

“It would appear I must work harder to obey your advice.” Thor chuckles and it is a booming sound that drowns out the last of the storm.

Before he had gone into the Odinsleep, their father had complained that Thor is not nearly the adult he believes himself to be, but Loki hardly knows anyone else so grown up. Thor is nearly eight hundred and with his own halls, while Loki is relegated to the nursery with a baby not even a yet a century old. The idea of being the only big brother in the rooms is terrifying, so he doesn’t think of it. Thor will be big brother enough for the both of them and Loki will do as he does and work with the shadows to make sure everyone stays safe.

Thor pets through Loki’s hair soothingly. “It’s alright, brother. You may sleep. I’ll keep watch.”

Loki ought to snap that he’s old enough to take turns keeping watch, but it is long past the time Loki was meant to be asleep and weariness catches up. So instead he nestles deeper into the covers with a petulant, “Take care to not roll over and smother me, brother.”

Thor laughs again. It’s more soothing than almost any lullaby. “Sleep, Loki.”

And so Loki does.

—

The next morning Thor wakes to the door to his sleeping chambers flinging open with an urgency akin to panic.

“He’s here, Mother.” Thor calls out quietly enough that he has no fear of waking his sleeping charge. Loki has curled tightly into a ball at his side and Thor simply feels compelled to wrap around him. 

Frigga pushes aside the canopy, lashing it to the poster with much the same seidr that Loki had used to free it the night before. “I see Baldur was not the only one perturbed by the storm.”

“Sif had convinced him the storms came from the battles of frost giants on Asgard.” Thor snorts at the absurdity. “I wish I knew the cause of their rivalry so that I might sooth it.”

“Not everyone is meant to enjoy the other’s company.” Frigga chuckles and reaches out to stroke back her youngest son’s curls. “Thank you for watching over him, Thor.”

“It was no burden.” Thor fights the urge to pull Loki closer.

It has been centuries, but he still remembers the babe that Father had brought home long ago. Loki had been little more than pale skin stretched over bone at the time. Still he had screamed his every displeasure louder than Baldur has ever managed, as though he might manifest it through sheer annoyance. Nurse had always complained that Thor only encouraged the behavior by answering every summons, but the idea of leaving Loki to his fright had been as unconscionable then as it was now.

“I know we still have another few years before it need be thought about but—“

“Worry not, the halls next to your own have been reserved for Loki and those across from his belong to Baldur. We would not dream of separating you three for long.” Frigga chuckles and presses a kiss to Thor’s forehead, brushing his own hair back. Then she takes up Loki into her arms and settles him, still sleeping, so that his head rests in the crook of her neck. “Now get dressed. Your father has awoken and looks for you.”

“Yes mother.” Thor scrambles out of bed. He is eager to learn what need Odin might have of him, but more importantly he has need of his father as well. It is near time for Thor to begin specializing in one field or another and he wants to take over Asgard’s storms.

After all, Thor made a promise.


End file.
